The 6 Emotional Enemies Inside Your Mind

What can destroy our ambitions, our fortunes, our relationships—our lives? The enemies lurking inside us, the ones we face from within, the ones we’ve got to destroy before they destroy us. There are six we must conquer:

We are not born with courage, but neither are we born with fear. Maybe some of our fears are brought on by our own experiences, by what someone has told us, by what we’ve read and heard about. Some fears are valid, like walking alone in a bad part of town at 2 o’clock in the morning. But once we learn to avoid that situation, we won’t need to live in fear of it.

Sure, there’s room for healthy skepticism. We can’t believe everything. But we also can’t let doubt take over. Many of us doubt the past, doubt the future, doubt each other, doubt the government, doubt the possibilities and doubt the opportunities. Worst of all, we doubt ourselves. Doubt will destroy our lives and our chances of success. It will empty both our bank accounts and our hearts. Doubt is an enemy. Go after it. Get rid of it.

We’ve all got to worry some—but we can’t let it conquer us. Instead, let it alarm us. Worry can be useful. If we step off the curb in New York City and a taxi is coming, we’ve got to worry. But we can’t let worry loose like a mad dog that drives us into a small corner. Here’s what we’ve got to do with our worries: Drive them into a small corner. Whatever is out to get us, we’ve got to get it. Whatever is pushing on us, we’ve got to push back.

Over-caution is the timid approach to life. Timidity is not a virtue (unlike humility); in fact, it can be an illness. If we let it go, it’ll conquer us. If we’re timid, we won’t get promoted, we won’t advance and grow and become powerful. We’ve got to avoid over-caution.

So, we must battle with the enemy, battle with fears, build our courage to fight what’s holding us back, what’s keeping us from our goals and dreams. We have to be courageous in our lives and in our pursuit of the things we want and the people we want to become.